Speaker 1: Be Around the NFL Podcast post since workouts to Instagram live.
Speaker 1: Welcome to another edition of the Around the NFL Podcast.
Speaker 1: My name is Dan Hansis and I am joined in
Speaker 1: the room filled with heroes Mark Sessler, Chris Westling and
Speaker 1: Greg Rosenthal. What is up boys? Hey? Dan? Happy Monday post?
Speaker 1: Knows workouts? I haven't yet, but UM, if you guys
Speaker 1: are gonna do it, I guess I could do it
Speaker 1: as well. I think the closest I've seen is is
Speaker 1: TDS little basketball set up that he has former producer
Speaker 1: now for like four years removed from producing the show.
Speaker 1: I mean we've been around a while, sitting in on
Speaker 1: meetings with Lebron James talking strategy for Lebron's media company.
Speaker 1: I'm sure he's bringing a lot to that role. Um,
Speaker 1: welcome to our show. Uh. You know the free agency wave,
Speaker 1: It is high and it is mighty, but it crashes
Speaker 1: very quickly and just a little. You know. Example of
Speaker 1: that is after two hours of live coverage here at
Speaker 1: on a Film Network with Andrew Siciliano, the Up to
Speaker 1: the Minute program, they cut in the middle of the
Speaker 1: afternoon to an a F game between the Birmingham Iron
Speaker 1: and the San Diego Fleet. It's actually starting to come
Speaker 1: in though. It's starting to like the muscle memory for
Speaker 1: a F terms is coming together. Um So that gives
Speaker 1: you a bit of an idea that things have slowed down.
Speaker 1: Um on on the free agency end of things, Greg,
Speaker 1: there's still names out there, but in terms of La
Speaker 1: La it's over now. Yeah. I mean, I'm interested to
Speaker 1: see where justin Houston and Dominican Sue Ziggiata, guys like
Speaker 1: that go, but it's few and far between. There might
Speaker 1: be some surprise trades, but if we knew they were coming,
Speaker 1: they wouldn't be surprised. And that's why I'm just jumping
Speaker 1: full into the a F and the story of Luis Perez,
Speaker 1: which has now kind of Chris Westling that the a
Speaker 1: F is a worthwhile operation. What is his story? He's
Speaker 1: an interesting guy. His father played Major League soccer in Mexico.
Speaker 1: Not interesting. So he has bowled twelve perfect gamesa bad
Speaker 1: never played football in high school because it was recruited
Speaker 1: for a bowling scholarship. I don't know what happened in
Speaker 1: his life that that somehow fell through and then uh
Speaker 1: now here he is playing football at the highest level. Well, well,
Speaker 1: you know, wait West, now you're watching. I have not
Speaker 1: watched a single snap. I just when Greg mentioned Louis Perez,
Speaker 1: I remember that like coming out of college, he seemed
Speaker 1: to have an interesting story, and Peter Schregor has a
Speaker 1: nice video about more importantly, Mark there. I have not
Speaker 1: watched a lot of a faction, but it was on
Speaker 1: my sitting on my television at my desk, uh in
Speaker 1: the in the snippet I watched, it was Terrell Davis
Speaker 1: in the studio. They were talking Trent Richardson, by the way,
Speaker 1: who was seventeen touchdowns or something now, so our sandwich
Speaker 1: prop could be still hanging the bed. Terrell Davis from
Speaker 1: the studio, throwing it back to the game telecast booth
Speaker 1: featuring Matt money Smith. I mean, how many jobs can
Speaker 1: you have? At what point do you go home? M
Speaker 1: J D and Marvin Lewis all men on the NFL
Speaker 1: media payroll. We haven't gotten a call yet to get
Speaker 1: get a taste of that a f guap. I did
Speaker 1: hear Greg downstairs say I'm going to get involved in
Speaker 1: this a f action next season, So I think that
Speaker 1: you pursue it well next year. I'm saying, bring us
Speaker 1: all I think, I mean, you better, you better be careful.
Speaker 1: I didn't hear. I didn't hear we're all gotta do it.
Speaker 1: I just heard I've got I said, if you gotta.
Speaker 1: If you throw that out there, Dan, you gotta be
Speaker 1: ready to because I think they would like to know
Speaker 1: that sort of coverage that maybe a podcast could bring.
Speaker 1: Joined Vince McMahon in the XFL next year. I mean,
Speaker 1: they have Johnny Manzel now too. I'm not sure there's
Speaker 1: a clamoring for an A a F podcast. The Around
Speaker 1: the A F pod. It has a decent ring to it.
Speaker 1: You gotta, I mean, we've spent a solid five plus
Speaker 1: minutes on you already. You gotta start somewhere. And the
Speaker 1: key is as long as those checks are, you know, clearing.
Speaker 1: I mean, Matt money Smith, he's not turning down any jobs.
Speaker 1: If you want to buy some property down here in
Speaker 1: Los Angeles area, we gotta get some new jobs. You
Speaker 1: were reading into it correctly, Mark, This is Greg He's
Speaker 1: ambitious young man and I respect him for that. Um
Speaker 1: he wants to get his foot in the door. I
Speaker 1: threw out there. There is not at this point an
Speaker 1: A a F media insider can Ian Rappaport role. Maybe
Speaker 1: Greg could throw himself headlong into the transaction business like
Speaker 1: and what was my response that that's a joke. Who
Speaker 1: would want to do that job? And you're just talking
Speaker 1: about it. There are many things I would do, like
Speaker 1: in a different line of work than try to be
Speaker 1: an insider. Getting your foot in the door right now
Speaker 1: is like getting your foot into the NFL in go
Speaker 1: along for the ride, Buddy, Um, Big show coming up,
Speaker 1: Big big show coming up. We're gonna go spin through
Speaker 1: the news some free agent happenings that have occurred since
Speaker 1: our last show We recorded on Friday morning, so it's
Speaker 1: been a bit so we'll catch up on all that,
Speaker 1: and Dave Gentleman speaks, and Um we listen because there's
Speaker 1: a morbid curiosity for all things coming out of northern
Speaker 1: New Jersey these days. Mark, before we get to the
Speaker 1: news that I do want to check in with you.
Speaker 1: It is a new day, of course, for the Cleveland
Speaker 1: Browns and you, as a Browns fan. You said on
Speaker 1: Wednesday when we first talked about the Odell Beckham trade
Speaker 1: that you would need the weekend to truly process it.
Speaker 1: Take us through your mind as it floated through this
Speaker 1: magical forest of possibility surrounding your Cleveland Browns. I feel
Speaker 1: two things. I feel very realistically optimistic about what they
Speaker 1: put together, and I also feel uh. Something that Andrew
Speaker 1: Siciliano mentioned when I did a piece with him on
Speaker 1: Friday about All That's happened is that the long time
Speaker 1: Browns fan is naturally in a position where you're waiting
Speaker 1: for something awful to happen, right, and you almost need
Speaker 1: a period of time for something not awful to happen
Speaker 1: and maybe the entire season to play out in a
Speaker 1: non disastrous way to truly shake it. Any Browns fan
Speaker 1: that's been around since the eighties, it tells me they're
Speaker 1: just perfect. Everything is great now has not actually absorbed
Speaker 1: what's come before. So cautious optim is um. But I
Speaker 1: really like what they've done and that they're going for it.
Speaker 1: Why not? How why? Why? Why be in the front
Speaker 1: office of an NFL team without trying just to go
Speaker 1: for it and win. Give me a break, that's what
Speaker 1: they've been doing for two decades. I know you're a
Speaker 1: man who likes to, on occasion get away from it all.
Speaker 1: Maybe have a book, a Carouac book, and a glass
Speaker 1: of wine in the corner of the bar. Did you
Speaker 1: find that type of peaceful place and instead of carouac
Speaker 1: you just looked into the air and thought about the possibilities.
Speaker 1: Did you have that moment where you processed it. I
Speaker 1: would say that the one other low level factor that
Speaker 1: I'm not sure I want to mention into too much
Speaker 1: details that the rest of my uh life feels like
Speaker 1: it's slightly on fire with responsibilities and economic woes right now,
Speaker 1: so it's not truly a vacation land. So maybe the
Speaker 1: weekend wasn't the place now, I think it will come
Speaker 1: in time. It is funny as a family man the
Speaker 1: weekend when you're younger, but it is blah blah blah
Speaker 1: blah blah blah when you get older and you've got
Speaker 1: kids and family and money and responsibility. It's basically, you know,
Speaker 1: a landmind of rebility, has little treasures, has little treasures,
Speaker 1: But it's not a you're you're what you're doing? Not
Speaker 1: everyone's gonna want to watch on their Instagram story right
Speaker 1: Sunday through Saturday through Sunday. All right, there you go,
Speaker 1: checked in with Mark? How to do that? Now, let's
Speaker 1: get into the news. It's narrative. Will the Payne can't
Speaker 1: play is a croc all right. That was the voice
Speaker 1: of Dave Gentleman, the general manager and executive vice president
Speaker 1: of the New York Football Giants, whomn and as we know,
Speaker 1: Geentleman is under fire. Uh after making the incredibly um
Speaker 1: surprising decision to part ways with Odell Beckham, as we
Speaker 1: were just talking about. So he spoke with the media
Speaker 1: apparently you know, obviously a lot of questions um about
Speaker 1: why he did it. Um you heard there the little snippet.
Speaker 1: Um he got back behind the idea of everyone wants
Speaker 1: to write off Eli, but look his numbers and how
Speaker 1: the team improved once the offensive line improved in the
Speaker 1: back half of eighteen. Uh. So we could break that down,
Speaker 1: but let's start by listening to his explanation why Odell
Speaker 1: Beckham Jr. Is no longer playing for the Giants. Odell
Speaker 1: was a tremendous talent, making him a valuable asset. With
Speaker 1: football being the ultimate team game and you know you
Speaker 1: and you guys know I've said that a number of times.
Speaker 1: But football being the ultimate team game, we turned that
Speaker 1: fact into three assets. At the very least. Some have
Speaker 1: questioned why we signed O'Dell and then traded him. As
Speaker 1: I said publicly twice, we didn't sign him to trade him,
Speaker 1: but obviously things changed. And frankly, what changed is another
Speaker 1: team made an offer we couldn't refuse, and as it
Speaker 1: turned out, the fact that he was signed for four
Speaker 1: for five more years made him very attractive. It enabled
Speaker 1: us to get legitimate value. Your thoughts on that, Chris
Speaker 1: Wesley Dave Gentleman has a podium podium, which means he
Speaker 1: can disseminate whatever propaganda he wants. But there are consequences,
Speaker 1: and one of those consequences has been this team has
Speaker 1: eight wins in two years, The quarterback has some of
Speaker 1: the worst numbers in game films of any starting quarterback,
Speaker 1: and the roster is one of the worst in the NFL.
Speaker 1: Now take the skills that can be separated from surrounding talent.
Speaker 1: As the quarterback's past supposed to nose dive just before
Speaker 1: reaches the wide receiver. Is his deep buls supposed to
Speaker 1: look like it ran into a wall of wind. Is
Speaker 1: he's supposed to fall into habits where he only trust
Speaker 1: in breaking routes. Is he supposed to be a statue
Speaker 1: in the pocket where he's unable to deal with pressure.
Speaker 1: These are the things you can see with Eli Manning
Speaker 1: outside of his offensive line, outside of his wide receivers.
Speaker 1: This is what Eli Manning's bringing to the table. And
Speaker 1: his mis evaluation of Eli Manning going back to last
Speaker 1: year when he said he came in not to rebuild,
Speaker 1: but to tweak the roster and he said Elion man
Speaker 1: who was still a Pro Bowl quarterback. This is haunting
Speaker 1: the franchise still to this day and will continue to
Speaker 1: haunt the franchise. He has a credibility issue. Dave Gentelman.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's the problem is he's making these statements that, oh,
Speaker 1: something came up, someone offered us a great trade. Well, yeah,
Speaker 1: someone would offer a trade after you pay a huge
Speaker 1: signing bonus to all the top players in the league. Hey,
Speaker 1: let's go trade for Aaron Donald right now and a
Speaker 1: bunch of his base salaries. But the Rams are gonna
Speaker 1: do it, Like, let's go trade for a number of
Speaker 1: like great players after you already paid for a huge
Speaker 1: signing bonus. They're not gonna do it. So nothing. So
Speaker 1: he's lying, and he also lied by saying that it
Speaker 1: was just a football decision that it didn't have to
Speaker 1: do with the off field stuff. And that's that's part
Speaker 1: of the problem, is when you're trying to sell this
Speaker 1: idea of of the Giants as some franchise that in
Speaker 1: any way is different or better than any other franchise,
Speaker 1: It's just not believable anymore. It's not if it's just
Speaker 1: a football decision. It is a awful decision. It's decision
Speaker 1: that you get you fired. And like I said last week,
Speaker 1: I think it's gonna be very difficult barring some magic
Speaker 1: eli season here that had he survives this, because this
Speaker 1: is as bad a pr as a general managers had
Speaker 1: in some times. But to me, the only way that
Speaker 1: move Mark made sense was if there was a lot
Speaker 1: going on behind the scenes that Beckham just for the
Speaker 1: theatrics on the sideline that will rub people arong way,
Speaker 1: it was even worse behind the scenes. We haven't heard
Speaker 1: anything of that reported, and Geentleman now is saying as
Speaker 1: much that had nothing to do with anything else, but
Speaker 1: we wanted to get better. I don't buy into that.
Speaker 1: I think it is one of the more anti Giants
Speaker 1: eras that we've ever seen, because it feels to me
Speaker 1: like organizational confusion. And when you look at ownership. I
Speaker 1: feel that there are two narratives that have been enduring
Speaker 1: over the past couple of years. One is a public
Speaker 1: frustration with some of the Odell Beckham behavior and antics
Speaker 1: and sort of a game of chicken, where we don't
Speaker 1: know if we can put up with this, or we
Speaker 1: might or we're gonna pay you because either we're gonna
Speaker 1: pay you where you go away, or we're gonna try
Speaker 1: to make this work and it's not working, and there's
Speaker 1: a continued frustration. And be was the public relations disaster
Speaker 1: that happened with the benching of Eli Manning and the
Speaker 1: over correction that came with it, which I feel if
Speaker 1: I had a guess behind the scenes part of hiring
Speaker 1: Getleman and Pat Shermer, where you're going to deal with
Speaker 1: Eli Manning for the next year, and you're gonna say
Speaker 1: all the right things, and by the way, you're gonna
Speaker 1: deal with him for a second year. And they have
Speaker 1: forty six million tied up in Eli Manning over last
Speaker 1: year and this and it's they've lost Odell Beckham ownership.
Speaker 1: I think is one out over David Gedtlman, who is
Speaker 1: essentially like a trojan horse and the guy who's getting
Speaker 1: killed publicly, but is having to verbalize what he knows
Speaker 1: his boss wants. Well, I think what backs that up
Speaker 1: is every single person who's reported on this has said
Speaker 1: that that interview last year with ESPN and which he
Speaker 1: was asked his eli Manning a good quarterback and Odell
Speaker 1: Beckham said, I don't know which. To me showed incredible
Speaker 1: restraint on his part and maturity because he's the only
Speaker 1: one in the building building capable of evaluating that quarterback
Speaker 1: and would be to not answer the questions. Now, that
Speaker 1: is restraint. I don't know it is a good answer
Speaker 1: because it's obvious to everyone else watching the games that
Speaker 1: he's been washed up for three years. Well, it answered
Speaker 1: to you as a football evaluator, but as a teammate
Speaker 1: in the middle of the football season. To me, that
Speaker 1: was not the right in the middle of a lost season,
Speaker 1: because it's a lost franchise that did not put a
Speaker 1: better team on the field, and he has to deal
Speaker 1: with But the Beckham decision is not in a vacuum.
Speaker 1: It's it's the part that we're Gettleman has a credibility issue.
Speaker 1: Is he could have traded land in Collins like if
Speaker 1: they didn't believe land In Collins was worth a franchise tag.
Speaker 1: He said, well, we didn't get a trade offer we
Speaker 1: thought was worth him for him last year. Well yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, but whatever you got might have been better
Speaker 1: than nothing. We'll see how the compensatory you know, formula
Speaker 1: works out, whether he gets a compensatory pick or not.
Speaker 1: But either way, like you make that trade, you you
Speaker 1: show some force that you don't make a trade for
Speaker 1: alec Ogletree and give up draft picks for that. So
Speaker 1: this isn't like a team that looks like they're trying
Speaker 1: to rebuild. I just don't feel like they're letting their
Speaker 1: true football person run the team. There are mixed desires
Speaker 1: from ownership to the coaching staff in the front office
Speaker 1: and what we get. And I think Gedelman in Carolina
Speaker 1: did a lot of unpopular things, but we always liked
Speaker 1: him because he seemed like a straight shooter, a dude
Speaker 1: that was pulled out of He wasn't He was sort
Speaker 1: of anti political. And in New York he's unfurled these
Speaker 1: unbelievably confusing messages for two seasons now, and they don't mix,
Speaker 1: they don't match because there's not a clear football person
Speaker 1: running the show. He is ownership's mouth. And a part
Speaker 1: of it is too that the Giants always have this
Speaker 1: big thing about tradition that they kind of never change
Speaker 1: who they are. I mean, Getleman is ernie of courses,
Speaker 1: you know, pupil like this is all like it's all
Speaker 1: part of one long Giants lineage. And because of that,
Speaker 1: I think they they don't admit mistakes like Eli. Of course,
Speaker 1: I mean Eli Manning is his show piece, Like he's
Speaker 1: the one who drafted him, He's the one who stood
Speaker 1: by him. So of course Gentleman's gonna you know, the
Speaker 1: apple doesn't fall forward from the franchise stability and structure
Speaker 1: that you speak of is it has helped that organization
Speaker 1: run extremely well for decades. Um To me, that's what's
Speaker 1: made the last couple of years so surprising, and a
Speaker 1: lot of it maybe does at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: it does all center around Eli and their inability to
Speaker 1: kind of cut the chord. And I guess when you
Speaker 1: win two Super Bowls the way he did, beating who
Speaker 1: he did, uh, the organization just it's love. It's a
Speaker 1: love story between these two sides, and they don't and
Speaker 1: they don't want to break up but that's the problem,
Speaker 1: is that in football terms, that that second Super Bowl
Speaker 1: over the Patriots is ancient history. It's ages ago and
Speaker 1: all the rest of the least. That's fine, but that's
Speaker 1: why they're behind. And it's it's like when your general
Speaker 1: manager is being accused of simply cow telling to like
Speaker 1: following the words of Mike Francessa on w f A N.
Speaker 1: It's just total confusion in the Giants organization. And I
Speaker 1: don't buy that at all. I don't buy that at all,
Speaker 1: But I do I do buy the fact that Francessa
Speaker 1: and ownership they are very tight. And I'm not saying
Speaker 1: that Francessa is doing everything parody. What does Francessa's original
Speaker 1: football pain. I know Mike Frances pretty well through the
Speaker 1: years as a listener, and he says he's close to
Speaker 1: a lot of I don't know if he's actually close.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying francess is doing it's just it's it's muddled.
Speaker 1: It's more muddled messaging from a team where there isn't
Speaker 1: one clear voice or plan. All right, let's go to
Speaker 1: another team here, the Miami Dolphins, And it is a
Speaker 1: good kind of study in two teams that are trying
Speaker 1: to build toward a future, So we'll hop in the
Speaker 1: organic fish tank. Uh. Miami does not have a quarterback,
Speaker 1: or did not have a quarterback heading into the weekend
Speaker 1: because Teddy Bridgewater met with the team decided to stay
Speaker 1: in New Orleans. Ryan Tannehill, the Dolphins decided, hey, you
Speaker 1: know what, we just want a fresh start. We're turning
Speaker 1: the page. They trade him uh to the Tytoon, so
Speaker 1: they have to make a move. Ryan Fitzpatrick becomes that move.
Speaker 1: He signs a two year, eleven million dollar deal with
Speaker 1: the Dolphins. Rap Sheet reported that Sunday the team confirmed
Speaker 1: the signing. He's thirty six years old. This is his
Speaker 1: eighth NFL franchise. It's his third team in the a
Speaker 1: f C East. The Pats are the only team he
Speaker 1: hasn't played for at this point. West your thoughts on
Speaker 1: this move because Fitzpatrick obviously showed last year in Spurts
Speaker 1: and Tampa that he could absolutely sling it and pile
Speaker 1: up yards and some points. Uh, is this is this
Speaker 1: the right move for dovid seeing that otherwise seems to
Speaker 1: be completely tearing it down. Well, if the goal is
Speaker 1: in organic tanking, if the priority is, like Thomas Dimitrov
Speaker 1: said years ago, until you find your quarterback. The search
Speaker 1: for him consumes you. If that's your priority, finding a
Speaker 1: quarterback in the future to attach your franchise to this
Speaker 1: is the right move. Like Ryan Fitzpatrick can play well
Speaker 1: in sports spurts if he has the bucks surrounding talent
Speaker 1: and play caller that he had last year with the Dolphins.
Speaker 1: He's not gonna have any of that. This is gonna
Speaker 1: be a bad team. But I don't think like Eli,
Speaker 1: he's not any worse than Eli, Taddy or Tanna. I mean,
Speaker 1: maybe a little bit worse than those guys. But to me,
Speaker 1: it's a recipe to getting a good draft pick. He's
Speaker 1: a good value at that price. I mean, that's the thing.
Speaker 1: Like there's a lot of talk about whether they're tanking
Speaker 1: and whether they're you know what, what exactly they're trying
Speaker 1: to do. Because Ryan Fitzpatrick's gonna go try to win.
Speaker 1: Brian Floris, their head coach, is gonna try to win.
Speaker 1: Everyone in the locker rooms gonna try to win. But
Speaker 1: I think it's just a process that they are understandably
Speaker 1: gonna take some short term pain by getting rid of
Speaker 1: all these contracts that the Mike Tannenbaum regime signed. Getting
Speaker 1: out from under them, stop paying mediocrity is like Ryan
Speaker 1: Tannehill what he is and and just get the best
Speaker 1: value that you can get as many draft picks as
Speaker 1: you can and move forward a year from now. And
Speaker 1: I think the Tannehill trade was instructive that they decided
Speaker 1: to pay some money to Tannehill part of his contract
Speaker 1: so that they could get a fourth round pick back.
Speaker 1: So they've got the problem is it's it's a whip
Speaker 1: last from a year ago. When they're giving up a
Speaker 1: draft pick for Robert Quinn. It's a sudden change. But
Speaker 1: Fitzpatrick is perfect and they might get better quarterback play
Speaker 1: that I think the changes. Also, you can map it two.
Speaker 1: When they fired at him Gaze Stephen Ross the owner
Speaker 1: set on December thirty one. One of the reasons that
Speaker 1: they parted ways was that Gae wanted to win now
Speaker 1: and and we sat with him at the owners meeting
Speaker 1: last year. We could feel a disturbance in the force
Speaker 1: when it came to Gaze and discussing the front office
Speaker 1: and some of the moves. The second thing they did
Speaker 1: was days later took Mike Tannembaum and moved him into
Speaker 1: a place where he had no decision making power over
Speaker 1: the roster. General manager Chris Career now oversees everything, and
Speaker 1: there was reports that when they talked to coaches and
Speaker 1: people that were candidates for the job, they basically set
Speaker 1: up front, this is what you're going to deal with
Speaker 1: for the next year or two. And they are in
Speaker 1: a position they already have ninety six million plus in
Speaker 1: cap space, and if you move on from Quinn, which
Speaker 1: they're trying to trade, and when Tannehill's money for next
Speaker 1: year dumps off, you're gonna be around a hundred and
Speaker 1: twenty five million in cap free agent. Your total cap
Speaker 1: space that we will lead the league, well, it's already
Speaker 1: already second for next year as it is, and you
Speaker 1: can't just assume you're gonna go oh in sixteen though
Speaker 1: the team, to Gregg's point, you could still go five
Speaker 1: and eleven or six and ten with this roster because
Speaker 1: they continually do that. But you're in a position to
Speaker 1: make moves where you're not attached to like they only
Speaker 1: have two players it's worth more than ten million dollars
Speaker 1: next season. They're stripping away their bad decisions Let's look
Speaker 1: at it this like like a relevant relevancy scale. So
Speaker 1: at the top of the list you have what the
Speaker 1: Patriots have done for the past two decades, which can't
Speaker 1: be replicated. But the goal of every team I think
Speaker 1: should be the Letterman quote about Peyton Manning. He changed
Speaker 1: the skyline of the city. That's best case scenario for
Speaker 1: your franchise on a relevancy scale. The worst cases you
Speaker 1: have no quarterback, you're you're relevant for decades, and you're
Speaker 1: a laughing stock. Somewhere in between there is where most
Speaker 1: teams fall. The Dolphins are flirting with irrelevancy laughing stock,
Speaker 1: but they're willing to take that one year penalty for
Speaker 1: a shot at the skyline, and to me, that makes
Speaker 1: a lot more sense. Chase Stewart from Football Perspective asked
Speaker 1: it this way, which I thought was interesting. Is it
Speaker 1: better to have Christian Hackenburg for two years or Ryan
Speaker 1: Tannehill for seven years? I would take the two year
Speaker 1: irrelevancy quarterback, and then you have if it means that
Speaker 1: the other end of it. You get your Sam Donald,
Speaker 1: you get your Baker, get your answer earlier. And the
Speaker 1: problem with IF and Dolphins fans will speak to this.
Speaker 1: The problem with what they've been doing for the past
Speaker 1: let's say two decades, is it kind of does fall
Speaker 1: on that watch post Marino Patriots dynasty. Is they've just
Speaker 1: gotta lingered in the middle this whole time. They've never
Speaker 1: really made a hard charge, but they've never been bad
Speaker 1: enough where they could acquire big time uh, top five
Speaker 1: draft picks. Uh. So at some point you gotta reboot
Speaker 1: the model and try something different. So that's I respect that,
Speaker 1: and I also think Fitzpatrick is a perfect signing for
Speaker 1: the team because you it's a tough sell to any
Speaker 1: fan base. We're gonna suck this year, like you know
Speaker 1: if your Dolphins, and you're most likely gonna suck, Well,
Speaker 1: we'll throw you this bone. Here's the guy. He's probably
Speaker 1: not gonna make us any better. He's not gonna give
Speaker 1: us too many more wins, but it'll be fun. And
Speaker 1: Franan Fitzpatrick I have personal experience with this. A lot
Speaker 1: of teams fans do because he's been on eight teams now.
Speaker 1: He makes things fun for a little bit, and that's
Speaker 1: all you really If you could throw your fans of
Speaker 1: that bone and say we're still looking toward the future.
Speaker 1: I think it's a win win. There is one other
Speaker 1: positive for the Dolphins, and I think the Browns, like
Speaker 1: when what they went through, help with this because Cleveland's
Speaker 1: you know, Cadrea beat writers were largely against the analytical
Speaker 1: approach that Sashy Brown was putting together because it was new,
Speaker 1: it was misunderstood, and it was came with a lot
Speaker 1: of losing an ugliness, and there was issues with ownership.
Speaker 1: But already, like most of the writers that are starting
Speaker 1: to figure out what the Dolphins are doing are fully
Speaker 1: behind it, a lot, a large chunk of the fan
Speaker 1: base are behind it all weekend long on Twitter, what
Speaker 1: Miami is doing is being touted as the fresh, new
Speaker 1: way to do it. We've seen other teams do this
Speaker 1: where in New York if even if New York is
Speaker 1: trying to get to the same place, the way that
Speaker 1: Giants have messaged it and the way it's been received
Speaker 1: by media is the exact opposite. It's been one clunky
Speaker 1: pr move after the next. The Dolphins have not announced
Speaker 1: this as a plan, but it is crystal clear what
Speaker 1: they're doing and the Giants aren't doing that. I mean
Speaker 1: I think they're not. The Giants are clear and on
Speaker 1: some hand, I can understand what Gettleman is saying when
Speaker 1: he's saying, this is the NFL we're building, We're trying
Speaker 1: to win as we build, because I think that that's
Speaker 1: an okay approach to it just doesn't make sense that
Speaker 1: the way that they're doing. I mean they just Antoine Bethet,
Speaker 1: who who's thirty eight years old there. You know, they're
Speaker 1: signing Golden tap there. You can try to win while
Speaker 1: changing on the fly. The Dolphins have tried and failed
Speaker 1: at it. I think it's just a little more clear
Speaker 1: what Miami is doing. And it's also taking over a
Speaker 1: group that Tannin bamb Ran that just you know, spent
Speaker 1: a lot of money on a lot of agent had
Speaker 1: this whole idea to spend a ton on the defensive
Speaker 1: line and defense and it just wasn't working. I do
Speaker 1: want to just point out the stat also from football perspective,
Speaker 1: you know FB g ch I mean, he's getting a
Speaker 1: lot of us all right. Last five years, only eight
Speaker 1: quarterbacks have more passing touchdowns in sacks. Just kind of
Speaker 1: a sneaky great stat. I like that stat. Tom Brady,
Speaker 1: Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Patrick Mahomes, Ben Roethlisberger, Andrew Luck,
Speaker 1: Tony Romo, and Ryan Fitzpatrick. Right, Fitzpatrick is a little
Speaker 1: you know, he's a little underrated in Well, I'm just
Speaker 1: that we're not we're not discussing that Patrick is a
Speaker 1: little offensive line proof because he gets rid of the
Speaker 1: ball so quickly that leads sometimes to quick decisions that
Speaker 1: end up with the ball going in the other direction.
Speaker 1: But one, one last point I have thought about the
Speaker 1: Dolphins is um, they seem to be onto on the
Speaker 1: right path though they have the right idea, but they
Speaker 1: have a long way to go, and so I don't
Speaker 1: want to celebrate them too much. And it all starts
Speaker 1: like the Browns, none of this is happening if they
Speaker 1: don't finally get Baker Mayfield. It took years from them
Speaker 1: to finally get to the quarterback and they did. Um,
Speaker 1: and the Dolphins have to get the quarterback. Like, so
Speaker 1: the everyone is right, how are they going to do that? Well,
Speaker 1: that's the thing. Do you get a draft pick? Who
Speaker 1: do you give credit to? Sashy Brown or it's not
Speaker 1: nothing to John Dorsey. It's like one person did part
Speaker 1: of the plan beautifully. And as a Browns fan, I
Speaker 1: don't care who gets the credit. But then you know,
Speaker 1: I don't know if Sashy Brown and his team would
Speaker 1: have pulled off these correct draft picks and these moves
Speaker 1: and everything the way that that John Dorsey did it.
Speaker 1: So the Dolphins can you can get Chris Greer can
Speaker 1: put everyone in the right position and all this can happen.
Speaker 1: But you need to draft the right people and getting
Speaker 1: get all the same draft picks and shedding money is
Speaker 1: the easy tons of teams that it's pretty easy. It's
Speaker 1: pretty easy to do that. Other than like taking kind
Speaker 1: of the pr hit. You gotta get some fortune along
Speaker 1: the way. And you got like Chris Ballard did a
Speaker 1: year ago. And you gotta recognize fortune when it hits you.
Speaker 1: I mean, he was in that three spot and he
Speaker 1: took the Jets, who are very happy with that trade
Speaker 1: for three second round picks. He hasn't he has one
Speaker 1: of them. This year he turned into, you know, a
Speaker 1: defensive rookie of the year and a starter. That that
Speaker 1: second part is the tougher part. That trade, which was
Speaker 1: one year ago yesterday, um could have franchise altering effects
Speaker 1: for two teams in a positive direction. That doesn't happen
Speaker 1: a lot the Jets got donaled out of it, and
Speaker 1: the Colts built up roster and got their best and
Speaker 1: to the point the Jets, what was the offseason messaging
Speaker 1: that Jets fans were, you know, scam for Sam, Let's
Speaker 1: go one in fifteen. This is the worst team in football.
Speaker 1: And then they didn't. They didn't lose enough they had
Speaker 1: to make They won a couple of games and the
Speaker 1: and that's the that's the trick is like the Dolphins.
Speaker 1: You know, I I've said it to you, Dan, just
Speaker 1: like it wouldn't really be that surprising if they came
Speaker 1: in second in the a f C S. I don't
Speaker 1: It's so early in the off season. If Brian Flores
Speaker 1: is a great coach and you get a little you
Speaker 1: get a little mojo on defense, seven games and the
Speaker 1: other two are you know. I'm just saying like, it's
Speaker 1: hard to get the number unless that it wouldn't be
Speaker 1: hard to imagine two teams with the worst record that
Speaker 1: that alone could keep you from the number one quarterback.
Speaker 1: Two final thoughts on tanking number one. The high cost
Speaker 1: of irrelevance is that pulling your franchise out of an
Speaker 1: apathy phase is often beyond your control. Is the Brown
Speaker 1: Soul for two decades. You come want to do it,
Speaker 1: it doesn't mean it's gonna happen. Secondly, in every sport,
Speaker 1: the commissioner is hired to grow the game and protect
Speaker 1: the owner's interest, and he must be ever vigilant against tanking.
Speaker 1: It's an issue of public trust, just like gambling in
Speaker 1: the Black Sox scandal. In baseball, you simply cannot have
Speaker 1: teams in any sport throwing games. You can build your
Speaker 1: team however you want in the off season, but once
Speaker 1: the games start, you have to try to win. Yes,
Speaker 1: all right, let's uh, let's move on and talk about
Speaker 1: some other news. Starting Cincinnati, a team that who I
Speaker 1: mean there, they seem to be in that kind of
Speaker 1: middle ground where they don't know what they want to
Speaker 1: be and it doesn't lead to any real success. And
Speaker 1: they're making a move on defense, parting ways with one
Speaker 1: of their most controversial players in franchise history, Vante's perfect
Speaker 1: uh Tom peler So tem Tom Pelsero reported that the
Speaker 1: team released the linebacker on Monday. Uh it ends a
Speaker 1: seven year run filled with suspensions and uh dirty play.
Speaker 1: But also he was productive as well, so there's a
Speaker 1: reason he was able to stick around as long as
Speaker 1: he did. Um. Ultimately, though, uh, cincinnat decides to move
Speaker 1: on and West probably not um not a coincidence that
Speaker 1: it's when Marvin Lewis is out the door to Marvin Lewis,
Speaker 1: who has been Vantes Perfects biggest champion and some would
Speaker 1: say enabler over the past seven years. Now, this is
Speaker 1: a guy who at his best was one of the
Speaker 1: most physically tough, punishing off ball linebackers in the NFL and,
Speaker 1: along with Gino Atkins, the best defensive player on some
Speaker 1: really good Bengals teams over the past seven years. That said,
Speaker 1: it's not surprising to me that his career is at
Speaker 1: a crossroads due to concussions. With the dirty way in
Speaker 1: which he played football, it's interesting to think back on
Speaker 1: this era. I mean, they might have a future Hall
Speaker 1: of Famer and a G Green, you know, the It's
Speaker 1: Mandy Dalton moments, certainly, but don't you kind of think
Speaker 1: of it as like the perfect era. I mean, this
Speaker 1: this decade was he was kind of the defining Cincinnati
Speaker 1: Bengal I uh, the one I was at at the
Speaker 1: combine where he was there and it was back in
Speaker 1: the days when we would actually sit around the college
Speaker 1: players and do stories on them and stuff. And I
Speaker 1: was floating around looking for someone interesting to talk to,
Speaker 1: and suddenly Vonte's Perfect sat down at one of those
Speaker 1: little round tables, and there weren't that many people around it,
Speaker 1: but he started to gather reporters because of just who
Speaker 1: he was. And I'll never forget that when they asked
Speaker 1: about his inconsistent play, he would blame coaches. He openly
Speaker 1: just blamed his coaches for how they put him in
Speaker 1: into the defense, penalties, he blamed the refs, and you know,
Speaker 1: why are you seen this way? A sort of a
Speaker 1: cantankerous individual, he would blame reporters, and there was Bruce
Speaker 1: Feldon of CBS Sports came out of that combine saying,
Speaker 1: I'm not sure any player here sparked a worse reaction
Speaker 1: than Vaunte's Perfect. I wouldn't touch him, and no one
Speaker 1: did touch him until Marvin Lewis picked him up as
Speaker 1: an undrafted asset. That's a good point well as far
Speaker 1: as what's next for him, even if the concussions allow
Speaker 1: him to play. He was one of the worst linebackers
Speaker 1: in the NFL last year. Came in out of shape
Speaker 1: after suspension and really was a major reason why their
Speaker 1: defense was terrible after he got back. It was his
Speaker 1: third straight year being suspended to start the season. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's that's pretty hard to do. I don't know if
Speaker 1: it's ever happened in the history of the league. I
Speaker 1: don't believe he's in line for a suspension to start
Speaker 1: twenty nineteen. But he's gonna have to find a team first.
Speaker 1: And other Bengals news, here's a smart move by the team.
Speaker 1: You could say two sports. Tyler Iford's back in the building. UH,
Speaker 1: the oft injured injured UH tight end twenty eight years
Speaker 1: old now signed another one year deal the team. The
Speaker 1: former first round pack pick back in two thousand thirteen.
Speaker 1: When he's on the field, he's been a great red
Speaker 1: zone target, but he has been as snake bitten by
Speaker 1: injury as any player in football. Uh. He missed the
Speaker 1: final twelve games of last year with a gruesome ankle injury. UH.
Speaker 1: Back in he had thirteen touchdowns in just fourteen games.
Speaker 1: So that's that's why I joke about it, But I
Speaker 1: was serious when we're talking about sleepers in the free
Speaker 1: agency UM field. Uh. He is a good pick up,
Speaker 1: and any team would be good to take a flyer
Speaker 1: on him on a prove a deal. And if he
Speaker 1: stays healthy, he's gonna be a top ten tight end,
Speaker 1: maybe top five, But I don't know if he can
Speaker 1: stay healthy. You're Tyler Eifford joke has gotten no pushback
Speaker 1: on this podcast because we all know that it's not
Speaker 1: even a joke. Andy Dalton has been a different quarterback
Speaker 1: when Tyler Iford's been healthy. Look at their one loss
Speaker 1: record in games in which Tyler Eifford has played versus
Speaker 1: when he's been injured, and it's it's not quite Gronk,
Speaker 1: but it's pretty close. Now, I mean, miss He's been
Speaker 1: fifty two games in five seasons, and and that's not
Speaker 1: a big deal. In a free agency where Jesse James
Speaker 1: got is getting nine million dollars for two thousand nineteen,
Speaker 1: who would you rather have? That's why, that's why you
Speaker 1: dig into these contracts a little bit. It was like
Speaker 1: two years eleven million, but nine in the first year
Speaker 1: you're given Jesse would rather Tyler Croft got a big
Speaker 1: money three years from the Bills. I like Eifford better,
Speaker 1: but who would you rather have over the next three
Speaker 1: years or two years. Jesse James games for thirty two
Speaker 1: games or thirty one games or Eifford for eight I
Speaker 1: think because I would. I want to find a guy
Speaker 1: on the street who can do with Jesse. I'm just saying,
Speaker 1: you want availability you can't find, you know, put some
Speaker 1: respect on Jesse James name. He just changed generations of
Speaker 1: his family. Uh with his ability to catch that pig skin.
Speaker 1: I don't think it's his ability to catch us getting paid.
Speaker 1: You know, he also caught that pig skin in that
Speaker 1: game It's the Patriots a few years and dropped to
Speaker 1: his ability to move up the other large by the way,
Speaker 1: shout out, shout out to Zach Taylor. So he's this guy,
Speaker 1: thirty five year old. Um, he's the head coach of
Speaker 1: the since in Addie Bengals. I don't think he's been mentioned,
Speaker 1: former starting quarterback of the Cornascars. I just feel like
Speaker 1: Zach Taylor for a brand new head coach. Hey, wasn't
Speaker 1: we see you out there? Zach Taylor making movie do things?
Speaker 1: Has has a head coach ever entered the league quieter
Speaker 1: than Zach Table I thought they were still looking for
Speaker 1: their head coach. Helloi not. His career is over. He
Speaker 1: announced his retirement after thirteen seasons. He does it in
Speaker 1: a very settler way. I always thought that Mark, when
Speaker 1: the time comes to quit, he'll do it in in
Speaker 1: a profound way. One one in a way that you know,
Speaker 1: again it's somewhere desolate and and and a place where
Speaker 1: he could reflect on the journey of his life. Just
Speaker 1: don't do it during the season. Mark, you keep saying
Speaker 1: months from now, there was one you had one timetable
Speaker 1: at some point that like put you out around October,
Speaker 1: just like let us know before camp. Maybe you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. I mean, I'm gonna do it when
Speaker 1: I need to. Just like this, it's like an issue
Speaker 1: that we're having with our fantasy baseball league. A couple
Speaker 1: of guys that ran a team together announced like three
Speaker 1: weeks before the draft, Oh, we're not doing it this year,
Speaker 1: and then you hang the whole league out to dry
Speaker 1: because you're scrambling to find somebody to fill the spot.
Speaker 1: So mind leaving this show after seven eight years of
Speaker 1: us being together. Is no more on par than with
Speaker 1: your fantasy football people. I mean, he's just sayed more
Speaker 1: than three weeks. Notice, I mean, I mean fantasy team
Speaker 1: went back to two thousand two, though, like, well you
Speaker 1: just know each other. I mean, very telling, but I'm
Speaker 1: I'm saying, don't quit. But if you do quit, um
Speaker 1: do it like Colodi Nada, who uh posted a photo
Speaker 1: from a top Mount Kilimanjaro holding up a big old
Speaker 1: sign announcing his retirement one of the cooler ways to
Speaker 1: step away from the game. And let us not forget
Speaker 1: Mark that not it was a great player for the Ravens.
Speaker 1: Um selected in the first round in two thousand six.
Speaker 1: Five Pro Bowls, two first team All Pros to second
Speaker 1: team All pros um and then uh with the Ravens,
Speaker 1: you know, want to ring two thousands. I will say
Speaker 1: one thing like I'll let these guys wig in on him,
Speaker 1: the player, but I was aware of him the minute
Speaker 1: he got drafted, because there were these reports all along.
Speaker 1: In two thousand six, I was at my parents house
Speaker 1: on some like I was not married or anything, didn't
Speaker 1: even have a girlfriend, just like one of those things
Speaker 1: where you fly to your parents house for vacation because
Speaker 1: they'll pay for everything. And I'm watching the draft in
Speaker 1: like the spare bedroom, and Cleveland had the twelve pick
Speaker 1: in the first round, and you wanted to about all
Speaker 1: the dark age stuff. Philed Savage was their GM and
Speaker 1: spent the entire day, we learned later on on the
Speaker 1: phone with Helloi Heloi Nada saying we are taking you.
Speaker 1: You're going to be a Cleveland Brown and he's like,
Speaker 1: back then two thousand six, the Browns hadn't been terrible
Speaker 1: that long. Let's do it. I'm all on board. Then
Speaker 1: then Phil Savage makes this bizarre first round trade with
Speaker 1: the Niners. Were with the Ravens excuse me where he
Speaker 1: allows Baltimore to hop scotch them from thirteen to twelve.
Speaker 1: The Ravens take Hello, Holoni Nada? What happened there? And
Speaker 1: the Browns take Mary and likely Hello Hellodi Nada played
Speaker 1: for a hundred and thirty three awesome games and helped
Speaker 1: to win a Super Bowl. Wimbley and okay, player was
Speaker 1: out of Cleveland in four years. Give me a break.
Speaker 1: Wasn't Daniel Jeremiah scouting for the Ravens at the time
Speaker 1: of that trade? He was more Chris Mortenson said he
Speaker 1: he remembers he might have been with the Browns by
Speaker 1: that now. He was saying, don't don't listen to the
Speaker 1: pre draft talk that this guy takes place off. This
Speaker 1: guy's sensational and I think, uh, you know that was
Speaker 1: It was a big moment for Move the Sticks getting
Speaker 1: not a drafted name a song with Kilimanjaro in the lyrics.
Speaker 1: M m oh, it's saw the tip of My Tongue Chris,
Speaker 1: recently covered by a famous nineties band, m m it's
Speaker 1: Crosby Stills in nashev to Africa. Yes, there it is
Speaker 1: well done Chris, as sure as kilimanjar rises like Olympus
Speaker 1: above the Serengeti. One of the great videos, go watch
Speaker 1: that video. I mean one of the great half to
Speaker 1: performances in my life is seeing Rivers Cuomo deliver Toto
Speaker 1: at halftime of a Santa Monica Community College football game.
Speaker 1: Story Steve Smith, he made it sing what Rivers doing there?
Speaker 1: He went there and he was trying to raise money
Speaker 1: for him nice Ken Ken just got in my ear
Speaker 1: and he said, well, I'm gonna before you jump in, Ken,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna put it to a vote. Got in my
Speaker 1: ear and said he has a total fact. Alright, there's
Speaker 1: three people voting. I will abstain yes or no, give
Speaker 1: me civil yes or no. Mark, do you want the
Speaker 1: total fact from Kent? Concise one. I want the total total.
Speaker 1: I thought it would be really funny if we just
Speaker 1: said no, no, it should be the answer and then
Speaker 1: we move on. And you know, I get the audience laughs.
Speaker 1: I get the feeling. Greg. If I was started with you,
Speaker 1: that would have smung the vote the other way. But
Speaker 1: it didn't go that way. So what is the fact?
Speaker 1: Ken the lead singer of Toto is the son of
Speaker 1: movie composer John Williams. Did you guys know that? No?
Speaker 1: I did not know that. Yeahn Williams is the Star
Speaker 1: Wars guy. Yeah. And Indiana Jones Jaws pretty mu Jolston
Speaker 1: his son needed a little more. That is a good nugget.
Speaker 1: Max Unger is done. Nice transition. He's out. Uh the
Speaker 1: center said, my body hurts. My entire lower half is
Speaker 1: killing me, so I can't play professional football anymore. He's
Speaker 1: turn at thirty three this year. Um. He missed one
Speaker 1: year in four games with the Saints. Came over from
Speaker 1: the Seahawks in a trade, but Unger Jimmy Graham the
Speaker 1: Jimmy Graham trade. That's right, was a major name in
Speaker 1: that deal. But his career is over at age thirty three.
Speaker 1: He was so frank about it, saying goodbye just not
Speaker 1: just his body, just thought he's like he basically was
Speaker 1: saying he thought he was past his prime, that he
Speaker 1: wasn't nearly as good as he used to be. Some
Speaker 1: of the PF numbers support that, But he didn't make
Speaker 1: the Pro Bowl still, and I guess the Pro Bowl
Speaker 1: doesn't doesn't mean too much. He made that Jimmy Graham
Speaker 1: trade look a lot better than than it probably should have.
Speaker 1: I think's inability to throw deep and from December on
Speaker 1: last season wasn't the only issue with that offense. The
Speaker 1: interior of the offensive line really shut down. I'm I'm
Speaker 1: always impressed by someone who grew up in Hawaii and
Speaker 1: just like as a great, great career on the mainland.
Speaker 1: And then he said he's gone back to Hawaii, and
Speaker 1: which that's what you gotta do, that's the move, that's
Speaker 1: I mean, he's earned you always go back to Hawaii.
Speaker 1: If you start in Hawaii, you should have to leave.
Speaker 1: I understand why you leave, though, because you want to
Speaker 1: see what else is out there in the as Check
Speaker 1: says on the Big Blue Marble. I get that. And
Speaker 1: then but then when it's time to bring it back down,
Speaker 1: you know, when you're getting closer to the soil once more,
Speaker 1: come back home. Well, if you read Joseph Campbell, the
Speaker 1: greatest part of the hero's journey is after you proving yourself,
Speaker 1: you get to come back a different person. That the
Speaker 1: Saints were very surprised by this, by the way, well
Speaker 1: they sound. They signed his parent successor right to a
Speaker 1: ton of money, a guy he's struggled, NICKI. Then this
Speaker 1: entire off season has been a reminder if you don't
Speaker 1: have a good offensive line coach or offensive gm that
Speaker 1: in coaching staff that can build an offensive line, you're
Speaker 1: gonna pay for it two times over. You're gonna pay
Speaker 1: when they stink the first time around, and then you're
Speaker 1: gonna overpay for these guys in free agency. It's gonna
Speaker 1: bang it twice. What what they sounds like my household finances?
Speaker 1: I thought you were saying it sounded like your weekend there.
Speaker 1: You know, it definitely did not sound like to hear
Speaker 1: about that. What they say about Hawaii, Mark that you
Speaker 1: always come home? Do they say that about Connecticut? I
Speaker 1: have not rised out of Connecticut. No. I was like
Speaker 1: flushed out of there the minute that I was essentially
Speaker 1: not you know, living in my chaper here. No, but
Speaker 1: that that was at a period in time when I
Speaker 1: was twenty something, you know, doing three day a week
Speaker 1: temp chops, you know, dying Tom Salesco can afford to
Speaker 1: live in Connecticut. He signs another extension with the Chargers
Speaker 1: to remain their general manager. He's forty six years old.
Speaker 1: Hold on, by the way, your brother, his dangerousness, Kevin
Speaker 1: danger had that's some interesting Instagram stories about the St.
Speaker 1: Patrick's Day activities in Pearl River. I'm just gonna give
Speaker 1: you one takeaway. It looks like an ultra beautiful town.
Speaker 1: It looked absolutely beautiful to do good work with the property.
Speaker 1: I didn't see he somehow did not capture on film
Speaker 1: the entrance to the coal mine. I only saw sort
Speaker 1: of glee. Where did you create it? On the parade route? Well,
Speaker 1: was this beautiful? Almost like downtown downs JFK Central curving,
Speaker 1: the curve in the streets there. It's rich white that
Speaker 1: that's certainly not not true, But that wouldn't be a
Speaker 1: horrible thing either. Greg Um at the bottom of the
Speaker 1: hill that's the entrance, I think that might be what
Speaker 1: you know, It was just beautiful, and what happened and
Speaker 1: what happens is and it is it looked like everybody's
Speaker 1: having a great time. It didn't look like it's one
Speaker 1: of the more Irish towns in the entire state of
Speaker 1: New York. And everyone has a great parade to celebrate
Speaker 1: their heritage. And then when they get to the bottom
Speaker 1: of the hill west, they put down the Irish sweaters
Speaker 1: and and they're guinness and they pick up a hard hat.
Speaker 1: I think it's always a better idea to the mine
Speaker 1: at the bottom of the hill, in the top of
Speaker 1: the that's lower down, you know, I get closer. I
Speaker 1: don't know why he didn't capture like the entire payoff
Speaker 1: on his story. I didn't see any evidence of, you
Speaker 1: know how those things I know, No, you must have
Speaker 1: even swept up. Congratulations Tom Talasco. But he's done a
Speaker 1: nice job at in his tenure. But they're they're treading
Speaker 1: in the right direction. Well, he's showned the ability to
Speaker 1: to build great rosters. And even before when they were
Speaker 1: losing games to injuries and special teams play and kickers
Speaker 1: who couldn't convert, we knew all along that this this
Speaker 1: team had a good roster. He hits on first most
Speaker 1: first round picks. He found Keenan Allen in the third
Speaker 1: not found him that he's the one that you decided
Speaker 1: we're taking this guy, Denzel Perriman in the later rounds Hunter,
Speaker 1: Henry Derwin, James Joey Bosa, Melvin Gordon. I mean that's
Speaker 1: you know a number of GM's just with on all
Speaker 1: this stuff. Dominique Rogers Gramardi signs with the Redskins. UM
Speaker 1: he was retired, as you recall, uh, just five months ago.
Speaker 1: He decided to walk away from the game. UM, but
Speaker 1: changes his mind. So with Redskins, he reunites with Landon Collins,
Speaker 1: his former Big Blue teammate, who just signed a six
Speaker 1: year deal of course with Washington. UH. DRC turns thirty
Speaker 1: three next month, so we'll see what he has left
Speaker 1: in the tank. But Washington decided this is a move
Speaker 1: worth making. Greg. I mean, it's good to see DRC back.
Speaker 1: I remember when he threatened to retire five years ago.
Speaker 1: But I think West had heard some some report about
Speaker 1: this story which blew my mind. What was that? My guys,
Speaker 1: the sports junkies out of Washington, d C. I've been
Speaker 1: listening to these guys. Shoot. I used to pull him
Speaker 1: down at midnight from Westwood One Radio in the days
Speaker 1: right after I quit the Post office and started at
Speaker 1: a law firm. This is going back years. Um, They've
Speaker 1: been on this scene for that long, and they don't
Speaker 1: usually report like news hard news. Where you go with this,
Speaker 1: They said this morning reliably informed that Bruce Allen is
Speaker 1: making all decisions for the Washington Redskins without consulting Jake
Speaker 1: Gruden in the least. So Jake ridden isn't the dark
Speaker 1: on all of these moves. The head coach um, and
Speaker 1: they pretty much said they're never going to admit to
Speaker 1: this because it's not the way any NFL team wanted
Speaker 1: to be known at the running a franchise. But as
Speaker 1: soon as Jay Gruden is fired, which will probably be
Speaker 1: after the next season or during the next season, they
Speaker 1: fully expect Jay Gruden to come out and say, Hey,
Speaker 1: I wasn't consulted on anything. This is all Bruce Allen's doing.
Speaker 1: And I think it goes to show that like Bruce
Speaker 1: Allen is so insulated, I don't think I don't think
Speaker 1: the Redskins realize how they're viewed outside of that of
Speaker 1: team headquarters. They talked about Gruden with the Landon Collins
Speaker 1: signing that would be your big offseason move. He just
Speaker 1: found out about it the way that we did through
Speaker 1: the media. It's it's totally why Bruce Allen's has been around.
Speaker 1: He's an interesting character. I mean, he's the son of
Speaker 1: one of the most legendary football coaches in NFL history,
Speaker 1: right built the Buccaneers with with John Gruden. You know,
Speaker 1: started started with the Raiders. Uh was an executive there.
Speaker 1: And he reminds me of like the rest of the
Speaker 1: world kind of operates this way. He seems really good
Speaker 1: at just amassing power and controlling power and having control
Speaker 1: of the business that he's running. This is a country
Speaker 1: where that's rewarded quite heavily. I mean, that's how it's
Speaker 1: pretty much that's that's supposed to be a great thing.
Speaker 1: Like he's he's essentially you know, hitting home runs by
Speaker 1: making Bruce Allen a top level executive for the longest time,
Speaker 1: with very little track record that any of it is
Speaker 1: working or doing well. But he seems uniquely excellent in Oakland,
Speaker 1: Tampa and here at amassing power, getting rid of enemies
Speaker 1: and and just I don't know, surviving. I once sat
Speaker 1: next to him on an airplane and route to an
Speaker 1: NFL event, And I want to tell you, I could
Speaker 1: feel that like energy and that power ouzing off him,
Speaker 1: but that was the opposite of what I felt. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it seems like a nice guy when he talks. And
Speaker 1: I don't know about you guys, but I've worked most
Speaker 1: of my adult life to separate myself from people who
Speaker 1: want to a mass power and think only of themselves, right,
Speaker 1: but power for power sake, Which is funny because like
Speaker 1: in the rest of like the world, or at least
Speaker 1: in this country, it's like that's almost like applauded, like,
Speaker 1: oh yeah, well he's he's actually he's a great success.
Speaker 1: Like that's but in sports you don't really get applauded
Speaker 1: for that. Also to be good at what you do too, right,
Speaker 1: But I'm saying, like how many executives? Is that? Right?
Speaker 1: But how many? That's what That's kind of my point
Speaker 1: is like executives all over this country making you know,
Speaker 1: tens of millions. Yeah, many of them aren't good at
Speaker 1: their job. E there, they're just good at amassing power.
Speaker 1: But we're not writing, we're not like focusing a fan
Speaker 1: base around the CEO the media. They just they're collecting
Speaker 1: page I'm a huge one. Stead In Johnson. I don't
Speaker 1: know what um great stuff they're rebuilding correct, very corrupt,
Speaker 1: dig into it a few more moves, let's hit him quickly.
Speaker 1: Bryce Callahan, the slot corner for the Broncos, um signed
Speaker 1: a excuse me, signed a three year deal where twenty
Speaker 1: one million with the Broncos. Uh missed the end of
Speaker 1: last year with a foot injury, but slots into a
Speaker 1: secondary that looks like it could be better on paper.
Speaker 1: Chris Harris, Kareem Jackson's in town and Bryce Callahan, well,
Speaker 1: I thought he was the best slot receiver in the
Speaker 1: NFL last year until he went down with that foot injury.
Speaker 1: And part of that, of course, is because they got
Speaker 1: so much consistent pressure up front, and he was playing
Speaker 1: with two great safeties behind him, so that makes his
Speaker 1: job easier. But it's also reuniting him with Vic Fongio,
Speaker 1: who was running it. The Eagles and Ronald Darby agreed
Speaker 1: to a one year contract. Rap Sheet reported this one.
Speaker 1: ESPN first had it. He suffered a torn a c
Speaker 1: l this past November, so he's in the recovery phase,
Speaker 1: but the Eagles and Darby stay in business. We'll see
Speaker 1: if he can help the team. That's not too far off,
Speaker 1: far long ago. Now a c L turn November that
Speaker 1: will set him back in his offseason planning. Both these
Speaker 1: last two contracts made it on my best con tracks
Speaker 1: West his favorite piece of content that I've produced. Now,
Speaker 1: I like these short term deals and I think that's like,
Speaker 1: that's basically the future. Like the smartest teams are doing
Speaker 1: essentially these cheap one year deals, and they're not afraid
Speaker 1: of the unknown, Like they're not afraid of going into
Speaker 1: each offseason just having to figure things out with these
Speaker 1: one year contracts. Is he gonna be ready for Week one?
Speaker 1: That's like I said, November, we'll see if he if
Speaker 1: he finally the Raiders, uh, finally part ways with Donald
Speaker 1: donald Penn. I feel like this has been years in
Speaker 1: the making. The veteran tackle who has been with the
Speaker 1: Raiders for five years, um moves on. He they cut
Speaker 1: ties and um at an age now where his career
Speaker 1: could keep going. But I believe he's thirty four. Uh,
Speaker 1: it could be a situation where he's got to kind
Speaker 1: of catch on wherever he can, Um Donald Penn. Does
Speaker 1: he bring value to the team, does he have anywhere
Speaker 1: would he be on the top of one oh one.
Speaker 1: How about that. I believe he's thirty six years old.
Speaker 1: The Texans are showing interest reportedly, Um, the word out
Speaker 1: of Oakland is that he became more troubled than he
Speaker 1: was worth as his skills started to decline. The locker
Speaker 1: room lawyer, uh like the Coulton Miller, like draft pick,
Speaker 1: did not help give me a locker room lawyer. He
Speaker 1: was always trying to get paid regardless of how well
Speaker 1: he played. Was sort of the way I heard. Because
Speaker 1: he's great when he's on NFL network may be just
Speaker 1: like he strikes me as one of those like the
Speaker 1: coaches don't like it when the players are smartest. I mean,
Speaker 1: he seems like he might be one of the smartest
Speaker 1: people in the room, in any room. And the Grooten
Speaker 1: era began with Donald Penn as this big Grooden guy
Speaker 1: who knew him from the ages ago, and they were vows,
Speaker 1: they were real tight. They both loved it. And then
Speaker 1: look where it ends. He um. He spent some time
Speaker 1: at Tony PA's and Marina del Rey and one of
Speaker 1: my old hangouts. Donald Penn, known to frequent that big
Speaker 1: big Man, Big huge Man, met him at the Odors
Speaker 1: meetings last year, Mark at that soire they threw on
Speaker 1: Monday evening. Do you remember that party last year? I
Speaker 1: do remember that it was meeting a giant of a man.
Speaker 1: That's all I recall. I mean, I can't say anything else.
Speaker 1: Drafted by John Grun and Bruce Allen at all. It's
Speaker 1: life all right coming up this week. So, yes, this
Speaker 1: is Monday's show. I hope you enjoyed it. We'll have
Speaker 1: another show on Wednesday. Friday, we won't have a show
Speaker 1: because we'll be traveling. We'll be traveling off to Phoenix, Arizona,
Speaker 1: lovely Phoenix, UH to meet with multiple players owners excuse me,
Speaker 1: neither players nor owners, but coaches and some gms, maybe
Speaker 1: a lot of them in fact. So we'll get to
Speaker 1: talk it up, chop it up, hopefully get some info
Speaker 1: on where their teams are headed. That's gonna be fun.
Speaker 1: Those were fun shows last year. It was the first
Speaker 1: time we did it. They're bringing us back. It seems
Speaker 1: like a good son got some good content meeting these
Speaker 1: coaches and we're still finding out. By the way, we
Speaker 1: have not been told where it is. This is the
Speaker 1: one event where you have an opportunity to stay in
Speaker 1: the same hotel as the owners, so you can only
Speaker 1: imagine it's a nice hotel. Well, I heard today from
Speaker 1: a shadow leak figure, I have not decided if we
Speaker 1: will be staying in the luxury hotel. I was told
Speaker 1: the same. It did not sound, um we could be
Speaker 1: in the days In, it'd be It'll be just like
Speaker 1: a little one star down about an uber right away,
Speaker 1: right because because the the Orlando set up, we actually
Speaker 1: didn't stay in the same hotels and they were just connected,
Speaker 1: so it all sort of worked that way. Borrowing from
Speaker 1: Kent's approach, here, I have a factoid about days In.
Speaker 1: Should we vote on it? Do I get to vote no? Chris?
Speaker 1: I mean I've already piste off West enough with this contract. Sorry,
Speaker 1: I don't want to go. I knew that was going
Speaker 1: to say days In started on Tybee Island, Georgia. Wow,
Speaker 1: that's pretty good. Better than the It's great. Sorry, I
Speaker 1: don't know. John Williams Son being the lead singer Toto,
Speaker 1: that's a pretty good fact. I mean, yeah, disagree if
Speaker 1: you're like a huge John Williams fan, But it's two
Speaker 1: thousand nineteen. You know, Greg, You're always you know denigrating anything.
Speaker 1: You just said. It was a terrible I wasn't going
Speaker 1: after John Williams's career. The man is a titan in
Speaker 1: his industry. He's great, he's great. Yeah, he's a legend,
Speaker 1: he's timeless, he's still working. I'm I'm all the way
Speaker 1: back when I watched like a documentary about him. Now,
Speaker 1: shout out to Rosanna or Quette who inspired to eighties
Speaker 1: hits because lead singers were going after Yeah, what's the
Speaker 1: other one? I think it's from Rio Speedwag and I'm
Speaker 1: not sure which one? All right, definitely Wait, So there
Speaker 1: was more. There was more sniping between West and Greg
Speaker 1: after I like, no, I just it was one of
Speaker 1: those things where well West made a one of I think,
Speaker 1: more convincing arguments to not go with a different type
Speaker 1: of segment today, and Greg was very I thought, amiable
Speaker 1: about the whole thing, and then it comes up here
Speaker 1: in the show. I couldn't agree more with West. That's
Speaker 1: why I can with friends. That's what you do with friends.
Speaker 1: I thought you were insinuating that something else happened after
Speaker 1: I left the room. Now I am insituating it just
Speaker 1: stuck in. It's some it's somehow stuck in Greg's It
Speaker 1: was a little hot and heavy for a Monday Morning's
Speaker 1: not often that I really fight for or against. I
Speaker 1: appreciate it. I wasn't that into the segment either, which I,
Speaker 1: you know, indicated multiple times You're you were not like
Speaker 1: pushing that on a scrag either. But it did come
Speaker 1: up two or three times during the show about west
Speaker 1: reaction of an indication that's sticking with you a little bit. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's what that's what friends do. Then you get you
Speaker 1: have a little fun with him. Greg taught us about
Speaker 1: friend chat today and that was good. All right, So
Speaker 1: that's it. We're excited to go back close to the
Speaker 1: owner's hotel. Hopefully we get security clearance before the big weekend.
Speaker 1: I was told the staff that we're going with are
Speaker 1: being de prioritized versus us. It's not a package that
Speaker 1: they're going to try to get the four of us
Speaker 1: in the in the a hotel, even if it means,
Speaker 1: you know, people that we know and don't want to
Speaker 1: mention on the show who are sort of coming along
Speaker 1: as the caravan going to the second hold. If Brickie
Speaker 1: Hollywood ever shows up again in this country, she may
Speaker 1: be b hotel hearing. I'm hearing whispers that she may
Speaker 1: not be part of a hotel. Pretty funny, the hotel
Speaker 1: scenario would be pretty funny. That's not gonna go over well,
Speaker 1: all right, that's it. Ken, You've done great work for
Speaker 1: us for four episodes and we just want to, personally
Speaker 1: on the show take a moment to say thank you. Yeah, thanks,
Speaker 1: thank you. Great job not taking a vacation during the
Speaker 1: busiest time of the year. Wait to wait to be
Speaker 1: can alright good, that's uh, that's it. Dan Hands is
Speaker 1: signing off four. The Quiet Storm, the mail Man, the
Speaker 1: Old Boss, Ken Brown behind the glass, It's Brown time,
Speaker 1: It's Ken's moment. Jill wins there